Even as we speak (er… you know what I mean) he is in the garage designing and executing a wooden-slat-based, or possibly dowel-based, clothesline substitute to be installed in our attic.
I’ve been bugging him about putting a clothesline of some sort in our back yard since we moved into this house, but he has so far rejected all my suggestions, mostly because he seems to think that the children will try to pull downward on said clothesline and by doing so exert a sideways force much greater than their weight on the fence post, or door jamb, or whatever, meaning that an enormous torque would be applied to said fence post or door jamb (trigonometry is involved), and that said torque would quickly result in expensive property damage and a big mess to clean up.
What he says makes sense, in a mathematical way I mean, but I can’t help thinking that I’m sure I’ve seen some houses around that, you know, had this destructive equipment just out there in their yard. Maybe they had really put the time and effort into reinforcing their fence posts and door jambs.
Anyway, Mark went to a presentation at work a couple of weeks ago in which the speaker suggested that the single device that the typical household could use and doesn’t which would yield the best return on investment, in terms of energy and dollar savings, is a clothesline. Somehow this got through in a way that my “Can’t you think of a way I can hang up a clothesline?” has not, and he is already in the process of Building a Better Clothesline. A moment ago he passed through the living room carrying a long board. Just now he is passing in the other direction carrying an extension cord and wearing a dust mask and, I believe, ear protection.
I’m thinking he’s looking to halve or quarter that ROI.
bearing blog 